CampusPeople Watchers

This is a non-creepy organization for those who are into the social, psychological, and analytical aspects of people watching. Those who are looking to experience group psychology, write critiques, and delve into the culture of the University of Minnesota should look into this organization. Trust me, you'll see the world differently!

A Non-Profit, Non-Creepy Organization.It's about the social, psychological, and analytical aspects of people watching. It's that simple.

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UnicyclingLet's count shoulders...for real dohFall but then succeed!!Ride the uni firstGet on by yourself secondJump the stairs WAHOO!

-Manju Connolly

At the top of the list of most physically demanding sports lies unicycling, and the ONE Unicycle Club exists to bring those worthy enough for the challenge up to the pinnacle of athleticism.

They’re cool. They’re crazy. They’re unicyclers.

What is unicycling? It’s a sport, demanding meticulous coordination to navigate the treachery of its lone tire. It’s an art form, promoting grace and style and reserving self-expression only for those who become one with the wheel. It’s a social experiment, taking advantage both of the layperson’s natural curiosity for unusual variations of common forms and his inability to balance on a unicycle.

We sat in on a session of the ONE Unicycle Club on campus, and we observed all three of those in spades. Masked by the blare of dubstep from their custom subwoofer/unicycle rack, the group portrays all levels of unicycle-ry; from the complete novice (including yours truly) who can’t even get up on the thing, to the rising talent who can ride solo from one alluring red line to the other to win a T-shirt, to the master officers who whiz by and leap up stairs and over benches in a blur.

We stopped President Brent as he flew over our heads for a brief Q&A:

CPW: What got you into unicycling in the first place?

Brent: I don’t know, really. It’s just something I decided to try out one day in 9th grade, and I fell in love with it. My brother – he’s the VP – also joined me, so that helped a lot.

CPW: What’s up with the name? Is it ONE, like in the one wheel on unicycles?

Brent: Actually, funny story, I do T-shirt graphics as a hobby, and I came up with the logo for the group before I actually planned to start it, as part of some other project. When I decided to start the group, it just seemed like a good fit.

A marvel of physical prowess, and an artist to boot. You can drop by ONE, too, once the weather grows warm again. They met at 3pm on Fridays in the fall, but no word on when meetings will be in the spring.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 February 2013 02:54 )

MinNeopians

Written by Katie Derbyshire

Thursday, 22 March 2012 21:50

For the month of March, CPW went to watch another unique student group known as the MinNeopians. The MinNeopians are a student group dedicated to playing Neopets. This passionate group is not shy about their affection of the online world and card game and have meetings to get together and just play. The group was not only devoted, but welcoming to our members. Providing entertainment and food to a group they hardly even knew, they welcomed with open arms and invited us to play game and such with them. Overall, it was a relaxing afternoon with the MinNeopians and I have gained an appreciation for their own passion as we are passionate about watching. For anyone who loves Neopets or think they want to expand their horizons, join the MinNeopains and spend some time with a great group of people.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/143654165705236/

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 April 2013 22:26 )

The Morning After Thrill Returns and Quidditch!

Written by Katie Derbyshire

Wednesday, 19 January 2011 02:18

Seeing as how Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, the Campus People Watchers pulled a day long watch-a-thon. The group began by meeting at McDonald’s at 9am to watch students make the walk of shame in costume. For those outside of the scientific community, the “walk of shame” is the walk home after a night of hardcore partying and debauchery. “What makes this day really special is usually the walk of shame doesn’t involve costumes!” said Campus People Watcher Treasurer Becca Nichols. The event was made most special by the sighting of several scantily clad men with smeared makeup all over their faces. Details were difficult to pick up by the group, as everyone was walking very quickly. “We think they are walking faster because it is cold,” said Sean, a general member, “that and they are humiliated by who they fooled around with last night.”

The Watchers admit that this is one of the more questionable events they have done… thus they decided to do it again this year. The last time was in 2008. “I think it was better this year than last time, but turnover is so high in this group I actually wasn’t even in the club” remarked the people watcher’s historian.

The second event of the day was the muggle quidditch national qualifier. There were four teams that the watchers watched, and four matchers. If you’ve never seen people play quidditch you really ought to because it was AWESOME! People run around with brooms between their legs and throw balls at each other – a perfect game for Halloween. Unfortunately, the team favored by Campus People Watchers, the green team with some fancy wizard name, was vanquished by the big, strong, mean tempered maroon team. What truly makes the outcome sorrowful is that David Shaffer, President of Campus People Watchers, wagered all of the remaining funds on the green team. “This is a made up sport so I figured the ‘1-60 chance’ my bookie mentioned was made up too,” Shaffer remarked before adding, “I’ve embezzled three times as much as we lost today, so it’s really no big deal.”

ECKANKAR - $0 - 1 Hr a week - 5 Members

Written by Katie Derbyshire

Sunday, 06 March 2011 17:52

The Campus People Watchers staked out the ECKANKAR student organization. The meeting started off with a personal introduction of each member over some food, and was then followed by a group HU song. The HU song is a staple of the ECKANKAR religion and seemed reminiscent of meditation. The song can be sung by members and non-members alike, and I’d say it was quite soothing. After the HU song the members entertained our questions about the faith and were extremely open and inviting to our questioning. Many of our members left impressed by the religion itself, and learned quite a bit about ECKANKAR through a long question and answer session. We left with the impression that the religion of ECKANKAR is inviting, has a more eastern feel than we expected, and is centered about love.

Recommendation: If you are an ECKist then this group is probably a great fit for you. However, if you are not an ECKist but are interested in learning more about the religion this group is quite inviting. The religion itself is against proselytizing so you can come, learn, sing HU, and be free to come or go as you see fit.

Last Updated ( Monday, 04 February 2013 05:17 )

Fiddling with the Freeze

Written by Katie Derbyshire

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 15:55

Background:Last year one of the greatest psychological experiments took place throughout the entirety of the mall area on campus, but the event organizers were not the Campus People Watchers. The event I write of is, of course, the campus wide “freeze.” For those that are unaware of what a freeze is you should follow this link (http://youtube.com/watch?v=uiqea9uechs) for a visual definition. Needless to say, we here at CPW were envious of the success of the event, and so when we heard about another freeze that was to take place this September we decided it was of the utmost import to alter the freeze in some way or another. We decided the best approach to altering the freeze would be to actually get the frozen people to - for lack of a better word – melt; furthermore, we decided to find out what the best way to make people melt is. Our only criteria for our experiment was that we people watchers weren’t allowed to touch, slander, or hurt any of the frozen.

Results:We had a lot of success getting the frozen to crack and melt. Some of the best melting agents were shoving gram crackers into people’s teeth until they started chewing, placing magic the gathering cards and/or fruit on people, and post-it noting people’s faces. This watcher had some success and irritating some people who may or may not have been frozen by turning the pages that they appeared to be reading, and by fiddling with whatever props they were using to add to their frozen appearance.

Conclusion: All in all we decided that the best melting agent of all had to be what one person who wasn’t even a part of campus people watchers tried. This little boy started screaming at the top of his lungs, yelling how the world was going to end, how everyone was frozen, and how he missed his mother. It got many of the frozen to start laughing, and as the CPW Chairman of Ethics, Scott Luisi, put it “the best way to get people to melt is to be loud and awkward” – something we here at CPW are professionals at.